Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Well . . . . I think it's some kind of sad new record around here, after being so super-productive with my July Counterfeit Kit while away on holidays, we were back home for over a week before I sat down in my craft room, and it's been more than a week again before I'm finally sitting at the computer with any kind of finished project to show you.

First up, here are the two pages I started while I was away, and finished up at home . . .

The only items I added that weren't from my kit were the letter stickers spelling out "Katelyn" in the page above, the "back to school" Silhouette-cut heading in the page below, and a grey marker with which I edged my elements with on both pages.

The final page I had planned to do with this kit was a double page about a visit to the Wallace and Grommit exhibition earlier this year, but I decided I wanted to print more photos for that one, so I've set those papers aside for now.

Before calling this kit "killed" I wondered what I could do with the left-over bits and pieces, so I went looking for a last-minute challenge I could attempt. I ended up choosing this sketch from ScrapFriends:

I know many scrappers out there are happy to spend seemingly unlimited amounts of money on every page they create, no matter how small the topic they are scrapping may seem. Me, on the other hand, well obviously I have a small (compared to some!) budget no matter what the subject matter, and some pages in particular I don't want to spend a lot of money on.
So this page, about a cafe we often visit when we travel north on holidays or to visit family, totally fits the "budget scrapping" bill!

Background: the white cardstock you sometimes get in page protectors.

Papers: all left over scraps from my Counterfeit Kit

Home-made mask and home made mist.

DIY "enamel" dots

die-cuts also from that same white cardstock, then inked to match the page.

heading created using letter stamps

star-shaped paper clips: similar to some I have seen on recent Two Peas videos, but have been sitting in my stash forever.

And you know what, I love this page just as much as any I've made without regard to the budget! (This is the cafe we like to stop at for lunch when we head north, but there's a different cafe we like to stop for a devonshire tea on the way home, so now I'm thinking I'll have to take photos of the scones next trip . . .)

How about you? Do you like to try your hand at a budget page occasionally? Or can I challenge you to try? You might be pleasantly surprised at the results!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

I'm home from 5 nights away, and happy to say that Flightdeck 301 was fabulous - both the apartment and the Counterfeit Kit of the same name!

I completed 6 pages, and made a start on 2 more.

How did I manage it? Well, first off, I constructed my Counterfeit Kit a bit differently this time. After choosing some papers based on the inspiration kit, my second step was to then choose some photos I wanted to scrap with them.

After adding more papers and cardstock as needed, it was only then that I chose/made embellishments, based on the photos . . . heart speech bubbles to go with a page about meeting my new niece, gears for a page about the Wallace and Gromit "World of Invention" exhibition, sequins for the belly dancing party, etc etc.

Next up, I was pretty generous with what I packed - like extra cardstock and plenty of stamps and ink. I was very happy that I packed my little box of small scraps, as well as my 1 inch circle punch and dome stickers for custom DIY "flair".

And finally, every time I felt stuck and tempted to put a page aside, I tried to improvise using what I had. When I bemoaned the fact that I didn't have any mist to soften the plainness of cardstock, I came back in with some stamping.
When the colour of something wasn't quite right, I adjusted the shade with ink.
And when I didn't have a circle cutter I (gasp!) cut the circles by hand!

(And scrapbooking on the dining table of an evening in front of the TV sure helped my productivity, too!)

Silhouette owners, did you notice that lovely "wonky circle" cut file that I used on two of these pages? You can download it for free here!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Just a quick share of my kit this month . . . the school holidays have got away on me, and we're headed on holidays tomorow . . I have named my kit this month after the apartment we'll be staying at next week, "Flightdeck 301".

I'm taking my kit away with me, so for a change, I really need a kit that works on it's own!

I've included plenty of papers, (mostly Crate Pater and Echo Park) a few new alphabets, some stamps and some Tim Holtz "grungeboard" numbers. The photo shows a small selection of the die-cuts I'll be bringing, which includes arrows, cogs, clouds, speech bubbles and more! I've made up a heap of new dimensional dots and also 3 "flair" badges - I don't know if you can tell in the photo, but they're the cutest little critters!

I'll obviously be taking with me trimmer, adhesives, inks etc, and probably some of the "usual suspects" like washi and wood veneers.

Hope you're joining in with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month, and I'll see you in about a week, hopefully with some completed pages!

Monday, July 1, 2013

So that makes five of the possible nine I had originally planned out. I decided to ditch the two pages I didn't have all the photos for, and attempt the two doubles, both of which had seven landscape oriented photos. I decided to try something a bit different for both of them, making a one-photo "traditional" page, supported by a page using divided page protectors, Project Life-style.

The left side of this first page is inspired by this sketch from Shimelle:

I'm not sure if readers from non-cricketing countries will recognise the play on words in my title for this page. "Howzat" (how's that) is commonly heard on the cricket pitch as an appeal to the umpire, and also the name of the Sports Centre where Angus had his birthday party.

This one is from Christmas . . . a very rainy afternoon, so we spent it indoors trying out all our Christmas games, books and craft!

A very astute reader might remember that I said both of my doubles had seven photos . . . well they did, but one of the photos mixed in with my Christmas ones was technically a Boxing Day photo, and, I thought, deserved a page all to itself . . . the back of the divided page protector, in fact!

I think the only items from the kit on this page were the journalling cards, slide mounts and kraft butterflies. Everything else is off-cuts, 6" papers and other items from my stash. I was especially please to remember to use the Echo Park "sewing" themed stickers, as they matched perfectly!

I'm ready to call this kit done, and move onto the next one. How about you?